1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to collet indexers for milling machines and in particular to a collet indexer mounted on a block which fits into a standard milling machine vise vertically and horizontally, the indexer having a pneumatic chuck control and either a hand crank or programmable index control.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The machining of components often requires the cutting down of surfaces and then the drilling or working of other features into the work piece. Perhaps one of the most useful machining devices for working articles from metal, wood, or other raw material, is the use of a mill. An important milling device is the vertical mill, which includes a table on which a work piece is mounted as the mill is brought down to machine the desired features on the work piece.
An important factor to consider while using a mill or other machining equipment is the time required to set up the machinery to support the work piece at a desired position so that it can receive the mill tool and allow machining of the surfaces of the work piece. Also of importance is the fact that if a particular operation cannot be carried out with a specific piece of equipment, a suitable machine must be found. This can be a problem in a machine shop where equipment is assigned for specific jobs, and the set-up and take-down times can play important roles in selecting when a particular piece of equipment is used to machine a particular work piece.
Many prior art devices are very large expensive indexers that have to be mounted as stand alone units.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,462,294, issued Oct. 31, 1995 to Wendhack, provides an adapter for converting a standard machine vise into a set-up orthogonal collet fixture. The adapter includes front and back members that bolt to the vise jaws after the vise jaw plates have been removed, an internally tapered sleeve in the back member for engaging a taper on a standard 5C Collet, a take-up nut seated in the same member for engaging threads on the end of the collet to hold the collet, and a cam for moving the sleeve relative to the collet as the vise is closed causing the front member to move toward the back member pulling or pushing the sleeve over the collet thereby causing the collet to clamp the workpiece.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,300, issued Jan. 9, 1996 to Wendhack, shows an adapter for converting a standard machine vise into a set-up collet fixture. The adapter includes front and back supports that bolt to the vise jaws after the vise jaw plates have been removed, an internally tapered sleeve in the supports for engaging a taper on a standard 5C collet, and a take-up nut seated in the back support for engaging threads on the end of the collet to hold the collet stationary to the vise as the vise is opened causing the front support to move away from the back support pulling the sleeve over the stationary collet thereby causing the collet to clamp the workpiece.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,457, issued Mar. 5, 1985 to Marron, discloses an improved universal multiple angle work piece holder which is capable of setting an object at any desired compound angle so that the object may be machined at any desired location. The invention further relates to an apparatus which can be securely adjusted in a manner that provides a firm support for the object to be machined and provides an angle adjustment design which allows the object to be machined to be adjacent the center lines of the universal multiple angle work piece holder. The present invention also relates to a tool which can easily be converted into other useful tools such as an indexing head to set a work piece at standard angles, a collet holder for use with machines such as a vertical milling machine or a surface grinder, or a dresser for use with a grinding wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,381, issued Jul. 7, 1987 to Bailey, indicates a Portable Machining Turntable (PMT) that is used in combination with a milling, grinding or drilling machines to allow both single and compound angles to be worked. The PMT is comprised of an integral housing that encloses an electric stepping motor that through two pulleys and a timing belt drives a worm drive assembly. The worm drives a worm gear that rotates a rotary head. The power to operate the motor is supplied and controlled by a conventional numerical control system. However, the PMT includes a mechanical override that allows the rotary head to be manually rotated. To operate the PMT it is mounted to a mill bed by standard clamp blocks inserted into hold-down slots located on the lower walls of the housing. The work piece is then attached to the rotary head and the head is rotated to the desired work angle. If compound angles are required the PMT is secured to standard machine vise, attached to the mill bed, and positioned within the vise to provide the first angle. The second angle is then produced by rotating the rotary head in the prescribed manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,722, issued Jun. 14, 1988 to Chick, discloses a workpiece that can be rapidly located with respect to three mutually perpendicular datum planes by positioning it within both a main machine vise and a supplemental machine vise held within the main machine vise. The supplemental machine vise being one that has an overall length extending beyond the grip of the main machine vise, ground and polished planar side surfaces adapted to be positioned so that one of them is in contact with the substantially planar ground and polished bed surface of the main machine vise, and a ground and polished substantially planar base surface on the supplemental vise, which is adapted to be abutted, usually but not necessarily in a vertical position, against the working interior face of the fixed jaw of the main machine vise. The supplemental vise may be either secured to the fixed jaw in the same manner that its removable jaw plate would be, if it were present, or by bolting or otherwise securing it to a retainer member located exteriorly of the fixed jaw of the main machine vise.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,637, issued Nov. 13, 1990 to Nishimura, indicates a work holder for a vice in a machine tool, in which by means of a holder body attached removably to a fixed jaw of the vice and a clamp block and a clamp screw both attached to the holder body, a work whose side faces have already been machined is fixed temporarily in an exact vertical posture and then fixed completely by the vice so that the side faces thereof are set exactly at right angles to permit machining for the top face of the work.
What is needed is an inexpensive and instantly aligning collet indexer that can be instantly mounted on the standard tooling vise found mounted on the milling machines used by small and large machine shops throughout the world.